The Val Freddana landscape
8 – THE VAL FREDDANA LANDSCAPE
«[…] Nando was now walking the little road opposite the church, stopping now and then to look at rows of grapes that were slow to ripen. He spoke to himself, gestured with his hands and, after a few steps, heard the chimes of the church bell tower striking behind him. Shortly after he also heard the creak of the wheels of a cart passing along the main road.
– It will be noon soon, he thought, turning round again. He lengthened his stride. In the air was the usual silence that dulled the memory: a rather heavy, suspicious silence that wrapped the whole valley in a desolating sadness. The manhunt was about to resume; you could feel it everywhere.
– German militarism is no joke, said the painter to the Rector as soon as he had come back in. It is still the old Prussia that teaches it how to behave in time of war.»
Giorni neri, ch. V, p. 157
Villas and farmhouses spread regularly across the land, with old haylofts converted into dwellings and rows of lime trees along the roads, accompany us on the way towards the turning for Massarosa and the summit of Monte Magno towards Camaiore.
Along the climb the landscape opens out, and the various turnings lead to hill villages rich in history and in Romanesque parish churches. Along the descent that runs from the top of Monte Magno down to Camaiore, terrace edges and dry stone walls draw the road, alternating with rows of plane trees and limes that historically served as living kerbstones.
This series of green barriers alternates with openings from which you can admire the precise, orderly panorama of the Camaiore plain, created over the centuries by the continuous, unceasing work of man, while olive groves accompany us down towards the sea, passing the little village of Pontemazzori.
Going down towards Camaiore, the land can be divided scenically into four large zones: the hills; the valley with the town proper and the historical marks of man’s continuous presence; the plain that opens towards Capezzano and historic Versilia or towards Viareggio; while the coastal strip of Lido di Camaiore joins, with its several kilometres of fine sand, Viareggio, Lido di Camaiore and then historic Versilia.